Li Ran was stunned.
What was going on here?
Why was Zhao Yingzhi crying?
He hadn’t said anything, right?
When he saw that the sound of the crystal violin could suppress the vampire soul inside Zhao Yingzhi, he thought about using the music to destroy the vampire soul.
But he never expected that driving the vampire soul away would also cause Zhao Yingzhi to die.
This was something he hadn’t anticipated.
To Li Ran, they were just teammates he had met a few times.
But to Zhao Yingzhi, the terrifying soul inside her body was continuously encroaching on her control.
Every day, her control was gradually diminishing. She felt that she was about to be pushed out of her own boundaries. It was a feeling of madness, collapse, helplessness, and despair.
Perhaps when the day came that she was pushed out of her own boundaries, she would disappear completely from this world.
She wasn't afraid of death, nor was she afraid of monsters, but she feared that the world would have no trace of her existence.
Just when she was about to be expelled from her boundaries, Li Ran played the crystal violin. The mournful and weeping sound of the violin pulled her back from the edge, while the evil soul within her seemed to be heavily wounded, fleeing in a panic and shrinking back to the boundary.
She regained control of her body!
Li Ran saved her again!
He pulled her out of the dark abyss once more.
The feeling of being reborn from despair was something she couldn't control.
Fortunately, Zhao Yingzhi didn't cry for long. She quickly regained control over her emotions and said to cover up her feelings, "Sorry, I made a fool of myself."
"Next time, if something happens, don't hide it. Speak out and we’ll solve it together," Li Ran said.
"Mm-hmm," Zhao Yingzhi replied as she walked aside to wipe her tears with a tissue.
Zhou Yanze, who had been standing nearby, looked at Li Ran with shock. Just as Li Ran was playing the crystal violin earlier, he seemed to see the girl who once had eyes only for him.
The girl sat quietly, smiling faintly, watching him as she played, the happiness in her eyes almost overflowing.
But that beautiful scene didn’t last long. The smiling girl suddenly turned into a hideous ghost that came at him for his life.
He didn’t dodge, letting the ghost grip his throat.
But the ghost dissipated into black mist, and he found himself still in the figurine store as if nothing had happened.
Zhou Yanze looked at the crystal violin in Li Ran's hands, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes.
"I can offer you a reward," Zhou Yanze said.
Li Ran was confused and looked at Zhou Yanze, not understanding why he had suddenly changed his tone.
"But before that, you must make a perfect piece of porcelain," Zhou Yanze added.
As soon as he spoke, a cold voice rang in Li Ran's ears.
[Task Triggered: Make a Perfect Porcelain]
[Task Reward: Eerie Power +150, Points +1500, Special Item 1]
Li Ran quickly threw the "Lost Dream" violin into his storage space, afraid that this item might be the special reward for the task.
Once the violin "Lost Dream" quietly lay in the storage space, he confirmed that the special item for the task wasn't "Lost Dream."
This meant that he could directly take the crystal violin bow.
As for the true purpose of "Lost Dream," he would need to find an opportunity to test it properly.
Perhaps in a place with many ghosts.
He followed Zhou Yanze into a workshop filled with potter's wheels.
"A complete piece of porcelain must go through four stages: pouring, shaping, refining, and firing. If you can make a perfect piece of porcelain, not only will I not take the crystal violin, but I will also give you another reward," Zhou Yanze said.
Li Ran immediately sat down by a potter’s wheel and began making porcelain without saying a word.
There were many pottery shops in cities that offered custom handmade pieces. In his spare time, many young people would gather there to make their favorite pottery.
Li Ran had never tried it, but he had seen it on TV, so he figured this must be the so-called “even if you haven’t eaten pork, you’ve seen a pig run.”
Zhou Yanze glanced at Li Ran fiddling around and sneered, not expecting him to be able to make a perfect piece of porcelain.
He then looked at Zhao Yingzhi, who was standing nearby, and curiously asked, "Would you like to help me choose a few pieces?"
Zhao Yingzhi froze for a moment, her gaze lost.
"Did Zhao Yingzhi trigger a task too? Choosing porcelain?" Li Ran thought.
He remembered that Song Linjia had once told him that she became a porcelain person because she chose the wrong porcelain.
The owner of this pottery shop had the ability to seal or transfer souls. He could move souls into porcelain pieces.
If Zhao Yingzhi chose incorrectly, her fate would be the same as Song Linjia—thrown into the kiln, her body burned, and she would become a porcelain person.
Li Ran quickly called out to Zhao Yingzhi, "Come here."
Zhao Yingzhi, confused, walked to Li Ran’s side. He leaned over and whispered something into her ear.
Upon hearing it, Zhao Yingzhi’s eyes widened in disbelief.
"Go on, trust me," Li Ran said with a wink.
Zhao Yingzhi naturally trusted Li Ran, but the method he told her seemed too absurd.
Zhou Yanze took Zhao Yingzhi into a room next door with warm lighting. Inside, there were tall figurine models of faceless girls.
The moment Zhao Yingzhi stepped into the room, she immediately felt a sense of oppression, as though she had entered a room full of people.
But in front of her were only faceless girl figurines, each one over a meter tall. Each figurine had abstract colorful glazes painted on them, like abstract paintings on porcelain.
Some collectors and stores or cinemas often display such figurines, each of which was quite valuable and attracted many young people for photos.
"These are all my works. Every single one is a result of my painstaking effort, but now I feel I’ve lost myself in the creative process."
"You might not fully understand, but as a creator, inspiration comes like a flood. When there’s no inspiration, it feels like your mind is empty and stalled. These works are like my children."
"But I’m troubled. I need to select the most perfect piece to be my masterpiece, but I can’t choose. So, I’d like you to take a look from an outsider’s perspective and pick the one you think is the most perfect."
Zhou Yanze’s eyes gradually became dark as the dim yellow light cast shadows over them, hiding his gaze. No one knew the crazy fervor in his eyes as he gazed at Zhao Yingzhi’s body.
"Go ahead, pick," Zhou Yanze urged.
Zhao Yingzhi stepped forward, scanning all the porcelain figurines.
In her eyes, all the figurines looked the same, differing only in decoration and shape, much like the Foam Mart or faceless clown series.
Moreover, these humanoid figurines gave her an eerie feeling. Despite all being faceless, it seemed like each figurine’s face held a silent, pleading expression, as if souls were sealed inside them.
It was the feeling of being trapped in a small dark room. You can see everything but can’t do anything.
She was too familiar with that feeling.
She had just escaped from that almost collapsing and desperate state.
"Pick already, is it really that difficult? Just choose the one you think is perfect," Zhou Yanze urged again.
A terrifying, eerie force emanated from his body, enveloping the entire room in its oppressive atmosphere.
Zhao Yingzhi, with only 1200 evil powers, instantly felt a chilling sensation, as though a terrifying beast had appeared behind her, locking her as its prey.
Zhao Yingzhi disliked this feeling, her brows furrowing as she stepped forward.
"I’ve chosen!" Zhao Yingzhi declared.
With that, she drew out a demon knife and swung it forward...
(End of this chapter)